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Delhi suffers season's first 'very poor' air day

NEW DELHI: Delhiites suffered the first “very poor” air day of the season on Wednesday, with the city’s average air quality index touching 304, a clear deterioration from the AQI of 270 (in “poor” zone) recorded on Tuesday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board readings.


Most of the 37 air quality monitoring stations in Delhi recorded AQI in the “very poor” category even as satellite pictures showed the region under a haze of pollution.


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The Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) said Delhi’s air quality was likely to remain unchanged or deteriorate marginally over the next two days. It attributed the dip in air quality to slow winds that were preventing pollutants from dispersing. It said the contribution from stubble-burning in neighbouring states was low at this time. However, the Delhi government said the foul air was largely because of crop burning taking place in Punjab and Haryana.

City air quality may worsen further from Oct 4th week

Air quality dropped to the ‘very poor’ range in most cities around Delhi, with Ghaziabad recording the worst AQI of 339, followed by Noida (326) and Greater Noida (314). Faridabad (300) and Gurugram (287) were slightly better off with AQIs still in ‘poor’ range.

By 9pm, Dwarka Sec-8 had an AQI reading of 463, Bawana 355, Anand Vihar 335, Wazirpur 326 and Mathura Road 310.

“Surface winds continue to be slow and variable with predominant direction from southeast. Hence the dominant factor for the increase at this stage is changing local weather conditions rather than external intrusion,” a SAFAR bulletin said.

It added that stubble burning activity in Haryana, Punjab, and nearby border regions had increased over the last 48 hours, with a few new fires also observed over western UP. “However, the wind directions are not favourable for the direct plume transport to Delhi and SAFAR model estimates the biomass contribution (to Delhi’s AQI) at just 5%.” it said.

According to SAFAR scientists, further deterioration in Delhi’s AQI might start from the fourth week of October.

“During the fourth week of October, the temperature will start to cool. The anti-cyclone (over the region) is expected to strengthen by mid-fourth week and associated clear skies, and sinking motion will make the atmosphere stable with calm surface winds. Both will lead to stagnant weather conditions, which favour fine particulate matter formation and accumulation of pollutants,” SAFAR stated.

It said the air crisis could deepen if any additional internal (like firecrackers) or external emissions (stubble burning) enter the air. In a landlocked city like Delhi, it may lead to rapid accumulation and may trigger high pollution events. However, if local emissions are controlled, an air quality crises can be avoided, SAFAR said.

In an indication that city’s air was becoming a political issue, Delhi government sharply contradicted the assertion that the present pollution levels were mainly because of local emissions. “Air quality in Delhi has been good or moderate for the last seven-eight months, but they have starkly gone up now... Clearly, the sudden spike in pollution is a result of smoke coming from outside,” a government statement said, hinting at crop fires in Punjab.

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